Ottawa pitches plan to keep National Energy Board in Calgary

July 4, 2017

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This is from an article originally printed in the Calgary Herald on July 4th, 2017.

The panel, which didn’t hold public engagement sessions in Calgary, cited criticisms that having the NEB headquartered in the city sets the stage for “undue influence” and could “erode” the regulator’s independence.

The federal government appears to have rejected the recommendation, which triggered opposition in Alberta over the perceived implication that NEB staffers in Calgary are biased in favour of the energy industry because of where they work.

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Some of Alberta’s top politicians and business groups took aim at the expert panel’s call to move swaths of the NEB to the national capital, including the board of directors, staff who oversee energy information and part of the office that looks after government co-ordination.

Kent Hehr, the lone Calgarian in Justin Trudeau’s Liberal cabinet, pushed back against the proposal, arguing the city has “a long line of expertise and talent,” and that the NEB’s analyses of energy projects from its Calgary offices are “comprehensive.”

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Legge said the perception that Alberta is consistently slighted by Ottawa “is in our DNA,” but he said the facts don’t support this view, noting the province has attracted strong support from the federal government, including the approval of two pipelines.

Natural Resources Canada said Tuesday that while it considers maintaining the energy regulator in Calgary, there may be ways to increase its presence in regions across the country “in areas where the organization is overseeing different activities.”